The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI) is a
key component of the new CMS Quality Payment Program. TCPI is uniquely designed
to help 140,000 clinicians nationwide transform their practices from
quantity of services to
quality of care.
Nationally, the 29 designated Practice Transformation Networks (PTNs) are
charged with coaching and assisting clinicians in developing core competencies
that prepare them to participate in Alternative Payment Models (APMs). In late
2015, 13 Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organizations
(QIN-QIOs) were awarded contracts to assist the PTNs operating in their
geographic regions. A key role of QIN-QIOs is to assess the clinician
practices’ progress through five defined phases of practice transformation, by
conducting TCPI baseline assessments and ongoing follow-up assessments for each
practice.

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"The assessments have shown [practices] what they need to better understand in order to achieve transformation goals.”

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From the start, Lake Superior
QIN – the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) serving Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin – put a high priority on establishing strong working
relationships with the six PTNs operating in its region, which currently represent 700 practices and 7,000 clinicians.
Building trust and creating ongoing communications were instrumental in the
process. Project charters defined expectations and identified shared
PTN/QIN-QIO measures. Once relationships were established, the Lake Superior
QIN-PTN project teams worked collaboratively to develop efficient practice
assessment processes – introductions, warm-handoffs, assessment feedback to
PTNs and assessment submission to CMS.

Bill Sonterre, Lake Superior QIN’s
TCPI regional lead, says, “The scope of the areas and processes involved in
TCPI transformation is extensive. The assessments, which gauge a practice’s
baseline, have been eye-opening for many of the practices. The assessments have
shown them what they need to better understand in order to achieve
transformation goals; the PTNs provide support to enhance processes to
effectively achieve transformation strategies.”

Lake Superior QIN’s TCPI team has
completed 253 baseline assessments to date, more than double its annual target of 100 baseline assessments. By July 2019,
the QIN plans to complete 400 baseline assessments and 3,913 follow-up
assessments. To achieve these ambitious targets, the current plans call for
Lake Superior QIN to complete 100 percent of baseline and follow-up assessments for five
of the PTNs, and a large percentage of the assessments for the sixth PTN. The strategy
also calls for reaching out and supporting any new PTNs that may start
operating in the three-state region.

Taking innovative steps, Lake
Superior QIN is integrating TCPI with other QIN project work as budgets allow.
Sonterre adds, “We’re getting a better feel for what each PTN is focusing on,
so we can help the practices with quality improvements and meeting their
transformation goals.”